(Minghui.org) Ms. Yang Guijuan from Yongqing County, Hebei Province, was tried at the Tongxiang City Court in Zhejiang Province on April 8, 2025, practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.

Ms. Yang did odd jobs in Haiyan County, Zhejiang Province, and was arrested by more than ten officers on October 12, 2024. They took her to the Jiaxing City Detention Center. The Tongxiang City Procuratorate indicted her on an unknown date. Both Haiyan County and Tongxiang City are under the administration of Jiaxing City.

During a pre-trial hearing, Ms. Yang’s family defender raised three requests: 1) call the witnesses to court to be cross examined; 2) exclude the police-supplied authentication of prosecution evidence (as only an independent, third-party agency is authorized to verify evidence); 3) present in court “Announcement 50” issued by the General Administration of Press and Publication on March 1, 2011 to lift the ban on Falun Gong books. The presiding judge did not make a decision right away.

The day the trial was held, April 8, 2025, a cordon was set up outside the Tongxiang City Court. A SWAT vehicle and an unmarked police car were parked near the entrance. Three police officers stood guard and a table was set up to conduct security checks on anyone who entered the building.

About 20 young people, who were no relation to Ms. Yang, were seen in the gallery. After the trial began, the judge announced that he would deny all three requests that Ms. Yang’s family defender made at the pre-trial meeting. He also ruled against the family defender's request during the hearing to have the prosecutor present the actual prosecution evidence.

Ms. Yang recounted how she fainted several times since her arrest and had stomachaches. During the more than twenty days she was held in a police hospital, she was handcuffed and shackled to a hospital bed. The day before the court hearing, she was taken back to the detention center but she was not notified of the trial.

Her defender asked why she practiced Falun Gong, so Ms. Yang explained how the practice benefited her. The judge kept interrupting her. He also cut her off as she was giving her final statement. When she insisted on finishing her statement she was dragged out of the courthouse.